Living On A Prayer
by Varyssa
Summary: The werewolf underground want revenge on Lupin, but the woman in his life doesn't intend to let them. Mild HBP spoilers COMPLETE! Plz review x
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer – I own nothing of Harry Potter…if I did Sirius wouldn't have died (not that he has coz he's not dead!)

A/N – The theme of this story could be considered as a spoiler for HBP though it's only a little little one and I'm not revealing anything major to the story, I promise. I'm just elaborating on one tiny little conversation in the book. Oh and this story is set after HBP. Leave me a nice review x

Chapter 1

"_Scum_!" the word was so well timed with the next blow that Remus Lupin felt it was the word itself that had driven itself into his gut, knocking the wind out of him, certainly not for the first time that evening.

He felt himself rise with the blow and then fall back down again, still held tightly in the arms of the two werewolves who held him fast. The werewolf before him smirked and drove another fist into Lupin's stomach. Even in their human form these werewolves possessed incredible strength and Lupin felt that strength turned against him as the group continued to beat him and torture him, revenge for his betrayal of Fenrir Greyback.

"_Filth_!" the werewolf spat, punching the ex professor across his face. Lupin felt his cheek bone crack under his skin, but was determined not to give them the further satisfaction of crying out even though his cheek was not the only thing to be in agony. Instead he took the punishment in silence, wondering how in the space of just a few short hours he had ended up back at the werewolf underground where he was neither welcome nor wanted to be.

"_Traitor_!" another werewolf who was hanging back, behind the torturer, hissed. The werewolf who was beating Lupin took this as a sign to give him another blow, which he did so with efficient speed and force, causing blood to gush from the professor's nose as well as a black eye to be proud of and a cut lip to add to the whole image.

"That's enough," the werewolf who had done the damage decided, taking a step back to survey his handiwork. The two holding Lupin let him drop and he crumpled to the floor instantly, unable even to move as he lay there in a bloodied heap. The werewolf smiled and gestured to the two, "We will continue this tomorrow, take him away."

Lupin still refused to utter even the smallest noise of protest as the other two grabbed him, harshly and proceeded to drag him across the ground to the smallest of rooms they had dubbed, 'the cell.'

Throwing the crumpled body that was Lupin into 'the cell', he received one more kick to the stomach from one of the werewolves for good measure before they locked him in, laughing as he coughed up yet another wave of fresh blood onto the already stained floor.

Lupin coughed a few times more, but fortunately no more blood came with it. Pushing himself onto his hands and knees, he managed to move far enough so he could sit up against the back wall, using it for support as he took in every detail of the room into which he had been imprisoned.

He could see why they had named it 'the cell'. It was something out of a horror film where the incurably insane were thrown into tiny, padded confinement rooms to protect themselves as well as others. The stains of blood that were smeared throughout the room did little to comfort Remus and added to the horror film effect.

Lupin stopped looking around the room, though it was so small and completely empty there was little to look at in the first place and he turned his attention to himself. His lip was cut, but the blood had stopped. His stomach was aching but the worst of the pain had subsided and now he imagined all he was left with was one impressive collection of bruises around his gut. He raised one hand to his face and brushed one hand lightly over left cheek, he immediately regretted it and bit his already cut lip to stop himself from crying out. "Definitely broken," he muttered to himself, continuing his exploration to discover just to what extent he had been injured. His nose was still bleeding, but only a trickle and to his amazement that was not broken. One eye was seriously bruised but he could still see through it, no doubt when it had time to realise that it was injured it would swell up and half blind him until it healed. There was nothing else, so he ran his hand through his thin head of hair, feeling it becoming flecked with the blood from his hand as he did so. Bringing his hands before him he could see that they were shaking uncontrollably and he lowered them, trying to ignore the violent quaking.

Leaning his head back against the wall, he let out a deep sigh and inhaled deeply as he tried to figure out exactly what had happened. It was all very simple really, though everything had happened so fast it seemed as though the events were all exceptionally complex.

Fenrir Greyback, the malicious leader of the underground werewolf clan was dead and although they didn't know the circumstances or who exactly it was, the werewolves imagined it had been someone from the Order of the Pheonix. It had not been long before they discovered that Remus Lupin who had been a member of the underground werewolves for almost a year was also a member of the Order and had obviously been passing vital information to them which led to the fall of Greyback. At least, that was how the werewolves saw it. Lupin had indeed been passing information to the Order, of course he had been placed there upon Dumbledore's instructions but not for the reasons they suspected. Dumbledore was of course far more interested in the werewolf dealings with Voldermort if there were any, he cared little for Greyback in any other context. But none of this mattered to the werewolves, not that Lupin had been given any kind of chance to explain himself. The only thing that mattered was that Lupin was a traitor.

So here he was.

Taken by the werewolves upon the orders of the new leader, the strongest after Greyback, a deadly creature by the name of Sabre, Lupin had been brought back to the underground where he would endure much more torture and pain until they tired of it and decided to kill him.

Despite the hopelessness of the situation there was of course, as there often was in seemingly bleak prospects, at least one comforting thought to be had. As a member of the Order he was required to make daily reports to the others, reporting anything they considered to be the work of the Dark Lord, anything that seemed odd and unusual. If a report was not made then someone from the Order would be dispatched to find out why there was no news. Lupin smirked when he pictured Kingsley Shacklebolt knocking on his front door, waiting for it to be opened only to find that the interior looking like a bomb of some kind had exploded within…well the werewolves wouldn't have taken him without a fight would they? His report was due in in just a few short hours, but until the Order realised he was gone and figured out just where it was he had been taken (which would probably take more time than anything else) Lupin would just have sit, wait and in the mean time take his punishment.

At the same time Remus Lupin was falling into a disturbed sleep in his cell, someone else was trying to fall into a slumber but to no avail. Many, many miles away Nymphradora Tonks was lying in her bed, staring blankly at the window as wide awake as she had ever been during the day even though she desperately wanted to try and sleep.

'_I'm too old for you_,' Tonks closed her eyes, not to sleep but rather to shut out the voice that was keeping her awake, '_I'm too poor_.' The words uttered by Lupin just a few days ago stayed with her, refusing to leave her alone. Of course they were words he had uttered a million times before, just as she had declared her undying love a million times before, but since Sirius had died things had just got so much worse as she had turned to his best friend for comfort only to be rejected…again.

'_I'm too old for you_.' Tonks let out a quiet, frustrated yell and turning herself over she buried her face in the pillow trying to escape the haunting voice, not that it did much good as the voice was completely in her head. 'I'm too poor for you,' since when had money meant anything to love? She was an Auror, she had a wage, she could support them until Remus found himself a job and could contribute, but even if he couldn't and he wouldn't be supported by her, she wouldn't love him any less because of his shabby clothes or his small house or anything else to do with money. Likewise, age. She had never minded his age before, love didn't regard that either when it struck. She knew plenty of witches and wizards who had married people much older than themselves or much younger. Indeed, she was close friends with a couple who's age gap far outshone the one between her and Lupin.

'_You deserve someone younger, someone whole_.' Tonks screamed into her pillow again though the sound came out incredibly muffled and she felt herself, not for the first time on the verge of tears thinking about Lupin. She didn't give a damn about who she deserved, she gave a damn about who she wanted.

She was snapped out of these thoughts by a heavy knock at the front door. Tonks sat up quickly, taking her pillow with her as her head surfaced and she looked over at the clock, not absolutely sure she had heard anything.

It was gone three in the morning and yet there it was, another knock at the door. She jumped into action as if this was part of a mission or a training exercise, in an instant her wand was out and she was slipping down the stairs as silently as her clumsy frame would allow while the visitor continued to bang on the door, it almost sounded frantic.

Reaching the door she looked through the peep hole to see Kingsley Shacklebolt knocking the door with such force she was surprised the neighbours wouldn't think he was trying to break it down.

"Tonks?" he shouted, banging the door for what seemed to be the last time as if he had suddenly decided he had made quite enough noise to wake her up, as well as the rest of the street in all probability.

"I'm here," she called from the other side of the door, surveying him suspiciously from the small hole. It was three in the morning, surprisingly enough fellow colleagues didn't usually drop in on each other at this kind of time in the morning. "Kingsley?" she asked, taking the advice of the Ministry's advice when dealing with fellow wizards, as well as the orders given to her by her own department, "What's your favourite flavour crisp?" she asked, ignoring the chuckle that came from the wizard, though he knew she was just following procedure.

"Salt and vinegar," he called, "Though I can't wait for them to make a sausage dinner flavour either," he paused for a moment, "and you, what's your favourite pizza topping?"

She opened the door, convinced that this was the real Kingsley Shacklebolt before her, though he was pointing his wand at her as soon as the door was open enough for him to see her, "Hawaiin with a handful of mushrooms," she said, quietly, "and extra tomato sauce of course."

He lowered the wand, satisfied with her answer and accepted her invite to come into the house. Just as well too, as people had started coming into the streets to see what on earth all the noise had been about.

"What are you doing here at this time?" she yawned, though she knew that she wasn't especially tired. She followed him into the sitting room where he sat, resting his elbows on his knees and in turn his chin upon his hands, gesturing for her to sit as well.

"I have some bad news," he whispered. The expression on her face was a look of utmost shock, after the week that they had just had there was nothing, absolutely nothing that could make it worse. "It's Lupin," he muttered, watching her and he could tell that her heart had just sunk within her chest as she staggered to sit as he had suggested earlier.

"What-What about him?" she asked after regaining enough of her composure to speak without breaking down.

"He didn't report in so I went to his house. It was obvious there had been a struggle, it was a mess."

"The Dark Mark?" Tonks whispered, her voice catching in her throat as she did so. Kingsley shook his head and she lightened up a bit, if only very, very slightly. This wasn't Voldemort's doing, if it had been the Death Eaters would be only to pleased to admit they killed another one of the Order.

"We don't know where he is or what's happened to him…but there was this…" Kingsley held out Lupin's wand to her, which she took with trembling hands. "I thought you might like to be the one to…"

"look for him?" she finished his sentence for him and gave half a smile when he nodded to her, "Of course I will."

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

R/R - Wow, there are so many of you and as much as I would like to thank you all individually...that'll just take up too much time and so I leave you with my greatest thanks and I think gatermage's mind tricks are forcing me into some kind of writing frenzy at the moment so updates will be soon. x

Chapter 2

Tonks sat at the pub table, she brushed her new long hair back out of her eyes so she could watch the bar intently. She was in a grotty looking pub that was actually a favourite haunting ground of the dark powers of the wizarding world. Although the Aurors were well aware of it, only those who could disguise themselves to look like a completely different person, say Tonks for example, were permitted to use it to gather information. If they were recognised in any way then their lives would of course be at great risk, but Tonks had been there many times before, each time was as a different person and she hadn't been recognised yet.

Today she had chosen the appearance of a witch, obviously versed in the Dark Arts. Her short mousy hair was now black and waist length, her eyes were a deep lavender colour which were rested on the bar, watching and waiting for a werewolf or at the very least someone who was close to them. She had dressed herself in a long, black dress and had even toyed with the idea of placing what could look like a Dark Mark on her arm, but had eventually decided against it. There were other ways of pretending to be a dark witch without tattooing the most feared image in the world onto her arm.

The barman was watching her suspiciously and she realised that the drink that she was supposed to be drinking remained untouched as she sat there so she downed it and went up to buy another one. "Waiting for something, hun?" the barman asked, refilling her glass for her. She glared at the barman, silencing him with a glance, making it clear that her business was not his business. The barman shrugged it off, he was used to such treatment and gave her the glass which she took without a word and leaving the sickles as payment on the bar she returned to her table.

It took another three hours, the sun had set outside and dusk had set in before the very person she hadn't dared to hope showed up. Sabre, in his human form strode up to the bar, a drink had already been placed there and he picked it up without hesitation.

Tonks smiled to herself, Sabre was alone and from the looks of things he was looking forward to a long night of drinking. Rising up she took one last drink from her glass and proceeded to the bar, standing extremely close to the werewolf, flashing him a smile and laughing inwardly as he took it just the way she wanted him to and bought her a drink.

Tonks brushed herself down and left the drunken body of Sabre in the alley way into which she had led him, fully aware that he was on the verge of passing out. She smirked as she watched the drunk sleep, she let her hair return to it's now usual state of mousy brown. Her face returned to normal and she was sure she shrunk a slight bit for effect. She caught sight of herself in a car mirror and when she was satisfied that she was Nymphradora Tonks once more, she swept off down the street, giving the werewolf a kick for good measure.

She couldn't help but smile as she walked, quickly down the deserted night time streets. That idiot werewolf had told her everything she had wanted to know and she hadn't even had to ply him with that much alcohol before he had started boasting about how he had made sure the traitor Remus Lupin was in his 'care' and was going to be made to suffer as Greyback had no doubt suffered. In fact, when he was telling his new girl about everything Lupin had already endured, she had to stop herself from cursing him and it took every ounce of self restraint she had. Now, she knew where Lupin was being held and what state he was in, she just had to get there.

Tonks considered how she would get there for a long while, she could use muggle transport to make herself look inconspicuous, she could fly there but in the end she decided to apparate but around the corner so she could walk into the werewolf underground without being suspicious. Even so, once she was there she would have to take some time to mingle amongst the other werewolves as one of them before she would be able to look around of her own free will without being disturbed.

Lupin writhed on the floor in the corner of the cell, coughing up more blood after another bout of torture. This lot was dished out by one of the lesser werewolves and yet it had still done considerable damage. The floor was covered in his blood, he was starting to feel light headed from the blood loss and his stomach had never been in so much agony. He was screaming and he knew it, but this time he had no control over suppressing the sound and by now he was in too much pain to care about whether he gave the werewolves the satisfaction of knowing he was in pain or not. He was in agony and didn't care who knew it.

The door to the cell opened and someone came in though Lupin didn't care, he didn't even look up to see who it was. He was forced to look up though when he felt a strong pair of arms hoist him up and push him against the wall. It was the werewolf who had tortured him when he had first arrived. He was obviously annoyed with the fact that someone else had cut into his torture time and was going to make up for it. He raised his fist back to strike but the strike never came, "_Immobilus_!" a voice rasped from the door and the werewolf fell down, unconscious, Lupin fell down with him.

The door to the cell closed and another person slipped inside, hurrying to Lupin's side. "Remus," a voice whispered and Remus found himself rolled over to look up into the face of the person who had just rescued him. It was a female werewolf, she had the same ragged look that any werewolf had when they were close to change and her hair was messed all over her head as if she had never brushed it before in her life.

Lupin blinked, trying to figure out who she was but instead he just coughed and sprayed her with flecks of blood. She sighed and looked away, looking back he could see her for who she was now, her face had changed and her hair was a familiar mousy brown. "You," he gasped, trying to keep himself from coughing again.

"I have to get you out of here," Tonks muttered, trying to lift Lupin up, but he struggled against her, shaking his head. "Remus, come on!" she snapped, sternly, still trying to move him.

"No!" he shouted, firmly in such a way that stopped her dead. He was staring at the ceiling of the cell, where through a crack they could see outside, where the sun was beginning to set.

"Oh no," she groaned, realising what this meant. The sun would set and tonight of all nights was a full moon, typically enough. "I have to get you out of here, now!" she cried, shaking her head and returning to the werewolf form she had been using to disguise herself. She hoped that if she pretended to be taking Lupin to another torture session she might be able to get him out of there…how very wrong she was.

She had barely managed to get him out of the cell when those around her started changing. The windows in the underground had been positioned to allow as much moonlight in as possible. The people around them were changing into werewolves at different rates of change. Some were already fully changed, others hadn't even begun to yet.

"Come on," she whispered, trying to get Lupin to keep moving with her. But, he had gone rigid. His body was stiff but shaking slightly. Tonks was suddenly very fearful of their surroundings and pulled out her wand without thinking. This of course alerted the werewolves around her to the fact that she was not supposed to be here.

"Run," Lupin rasped from under her arm, but she raised her wand, refusing to let Lupin go. She kept him firmly in her grasp, determined to fight off whoever dared challenge her. Of course she hit a snag when Lupin began to change under her arm as those around her rounded on them.

Lupin wrenched from her grip as he fell to the floor, his cries sounding more and more animal like as he became a werewolf under the curse of the moonlight. Soon Tonks was completely surrounded by werewolves, Lupin as one of them. "No," she whispered to herself, "No, no no no," she broke off as the werewolf Lupin howled and leapt at her. She raised her wand to defend herself but it was knocked out of her grasp and she was knocked out of the way as he jumped forward.

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

A/N – Thank you to all my wonderful reviewers! You are all so kind and so many of you to thank individually x

Chapter 3

Tonks' eyes flickered open, she was surprised to find that she managed to open them at all, indeed she was surprised at the fact that she was still alive. She remembered Lupin jumping at her, she had cowered and ducked trying to protect herself from the uncontrollable professor, but he hadn't been jumping at her, he was leaping for the werewolf behind her. Lupin then went on to try and fight off the werewolves that were gathering behind her, leaving her to deal with the ones right in front of her. After she had got over the initial shock that the werewolf Lupin could still remember her enough to not hurt her, she had managed to blast a couple of the werewolves away as she tried to fight her way out of the underground.

She had managed to fight past some of the werewolves when she saw another one appear from the entrance. This one was larger from the others and when it sniffed the air and fixed it's yellow eye on Tonks, she realised he was familiar with her and was none to happy about being plied with vodka and dumped in an alley.

The very last thing she remembered was Sabre running toward her as Lupin had earlier, except this time he was going right for her. She remembered him jumping, but something had hit her from behind before he could reach her. Even though that blow might have saved her life, it had also knocked her unconscious and she had no memory of anything else.

The back of her head was aching, she reached back and was relieved to find that there was no blood. The rest of her body was racked with injury, but she wasn't bleeding heavily. She managed to push herself up into a sitting position and found that she was lying in a street but she wasn't alone. Lupin was lying beside her, it was still night time but the moon had faded as the sun began to rise. He wasn't a werewolf anymore, he was human but he had looked much better.

The early risers were beginning to go into the street, Tonks knew that if they stayed where they were it would cause a lot of problems with the muggle police force. Here, two people were lying injured with, amongst other things, claw and bite marks across their skin and one was naked and unconscious.

Tonks dragged herself over to Lupin and wrapped an arm around him, attempting to apparate them to somewhere far more private and comfortable. It took a couple of attempts but eventually she managed to get them to her house before they could be discovered.

It was only when she had got them to safety did she start to notice Lupin's wounds. He had been bitten repeatedly as well as slashed, but he wasn't bleeding profusely…he was however completely naked, though as he was lying on his stomach, she didn't feel the full effect of this…which was probably a good thing.

She got to her feet, ignoring the cries of protest from her body as she did so. She staggered up to her room and as well as a blanket brought down a number of healing potions she kept around the house as if she usually brought back savaged werewolves to her home. Tonks pulled the blanket over Lupin and took one of the healing potions for herself. It stopped most of the pain but the wounds themselves would need to be treated with other potions, whether that or a trip to St Mungo's was in order.

Rolling Lupin onto his back, Tonks held his head in her lap and slowly tipped the potion into his throat, at least when he woke he wouldn't be in as much pain as she had been in. He swallowed the potion but it clearly went down the wrong way and he ended up choking himself back to consciousness.

"Tonks?" he spluttered, spraying her face with the potion. She scowled and wiped it away onto her sleeve, but didn't hold it against him.

"Hey there," she smiled. It would have been easy to lose herself in this moment with Lupin's head resting in her lap, but she knew she had to get him to drink the potion in it's entirety if he was going to heal efficiently. "Drink this," she whispered, tipping the potion back down his throat until he had drained the bottle.

He wiped his mouth and sat up, without her help. He looked over at her and she had been expecting him to be happy…or at least grateful that she had saved his life. Instead she found him looking irritated and for a brief moment he looked angry.

"Why did you do that?" he snapped, "Why did you come after me? You could have been killed!"

Tonks' mouth opened slightly from surprise as she tried to understand him, "What?" she eventually stuttered.

"Didn't you think about what could have happened? The werewolf underground is a dangerous place, some werewolves think twice about going there…"

"And if I hadn't turned up," Tonks interrupted, her voice becoming very stern, "how long would it have been before they would have killed you? If I hadn't turned up you would have died!"

Lupin hesitated but still replied, "I just didn't want you to get hurt," he muttered, looking away. Tonks couldn't help but smile as her heart swelled up and she threw her arms around Lupin. As soon as she did though he pulled back and pushed her away.

"No Tonks," he said, quietly but firmly. Tonks glared at him,

"It was just one hug," she spat, then seemed to explode at the rejection, "Why do you do this!" she shrieked, making Lupin jump, "Why do you keep pushing me away like this!"

Lupin rolled his eyes, "Tonks, we've been through this again and again I'm…"

"Say not good enough for me and I swear I'll take you back to the werewolves," Tonks cried, but it was enough to make them both laugh. They both leaned back on the sofa and chuckled. "I don't care what you think," she said when their laughter had died down, "I don't care what or who you think I deserve…don't I deserve to be happy?" Lupin snapped his head to look at her,

"Of course you do. Of course I want you to be happy…that's why I want you to find someone who can make you happy."

Tonks sighed, exasperated "You really don't get this, do you?" she murmured, cradling her head in her hands.

Lupin looked over at her, feeling immensely guilty that he was forced to do this to her, repeatedly.

"Do you love me?" she asked, suddenly and completely out of the blue. Lupin opened his mouth then closed it, only for it to continue to open and close again as he seemed unable to think of an answer. "It's not a difficult question," Tonks snapped, impatiently but somewhat aggressively, "Do you love me?" Lupin hung his head and murmured a reply which she didn't hear. She nudged him and forced him to repeat his words.

"Yes," he replied, almost frustrated. She fell silent, a move which surprised Lupin and he looked up. Her heart had melted when she heard his reply and she was smiling at him. She looked almost thoughtful as she looked at him,

"Then why don't you want to be with me?" she asked, her voice betraying a hint of curiosity.

"I do," Lupin cried, almost as if he had been waiting to get something off his chest, "more than anything, but look at me! Look at the state of me! You deserve so much better."

"Will you stop thinking about what I deserve and start thinking about what I _want_?" Tonks said, but she said it with a smile. Lupin couldn't help but smile back sheepishly.

For a while they just sat smiling at each other before Tonks finally sighed, "So…will you finally start giving me the time of day?"

Lupin gave a sigh of his own as she reached out to him, "and more," he smiled.

The following morning Lupin woke up, still in Tonk's house. His body was still racked with the injuries he had sustained from the werewolf underground, but the rest of his body was still buzzing from the night before and he could barely feel the wounds. He sat up in bed and felt the sheet slide down as he looked around for Tonks.

"Tonks?" he called, when he saw that she wasn't in the room. He heard a shuffle from the en suite bathroom and Tonks appeared in the doorway with a beaming smile and bright pink hair.

End


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